Profile for Bar none

CATS - 7 (3 of them Broadway) LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS - 5 (2 were Broadway) THE WIZ - 5 (3-Stephanie Mills, 2-Ashanti)

Husk_Charmer, I never meant to imply that this production should transfer as is. I just assumed that if it did, the production value would go up the way it did with Gypsy. They redid the costumes and sets when that production transferred to Broadway last year. What I meant was keeping this cast, with replacements for Dorothy and the Wiz. I would also rework Blankenbuehler's choreography, expand on Korins' set designs, particularly Emerald City and the Throne Room, and replace MOST, not all, o...

Husk_Charmer, glad to hear you enjoyed "The Wiz" despite those complaints. I saw the show Friday and thought it was much better than expected condsidering the negative comments that were left on here during the previews. Having seen the 1984 revival (with Stephanie Mills) as a child, then the 1993 revival (with Mills and original Wiz, Andre De Shields) and having heard a live recording of the original 1975 cast, my view of the Encores! version would be one based on a comparison of all four pr...

A positive review: http://www.backstage.com/bso/reviews-ny-theatre-off-broadway/the-wiz-1003985859.story "Despite the weakness of two central performances, this is a wiz of a show and with some recasting could easily ease on down the road to a Broadway run."

@ NuMystic: That scene with the creatures is called "Kalidah Battle." It's taken directly from Baum's book. In the story, the Kalidahs were beasts that were half-tiger and half-bear. They were also in the original 1975 Broadway production. The '78 film dropped it in favor of the subway scene, which was adapted from Baum's attack sequence of the Fighting Trees.

Great review. Thank you NuMystic.

How did they do the Tornado?

Even if the voters didn't see all three, I think that was the right thing to do. Given that they're so young and aren't competing against one another, it would only be fair.

Husk_charmer, I was thinking the same thing about the tight camera work on the choreography. I guess it will just give me something more to look forward to. As far as the "get 'em up, ease on down" goes, I heard a live recording of the original cast and that was never used in the song the three times they performed it in the show.

I'm lovin' "Ease on Down the Road." Even though they're going to be using the original Broadway orchestrations, it appears they've combined the background vocals from both the movie ("get 'em up, ease on down") and the play ("doot doot dooooot"). @ husk charmer: It looks to me like the Yellow Brick Road has expanded from four dancers to six or seven. The six with the microphones appear to be the "pit singers." In the original production, there were four. I'm guessing they'll be performing ons...

Not bad at all.

What an adorable dog! I'm so happy they're not casting a person in the role of Toto like they did with the Oz scenes in La Jolla. But I wonder if he'll only appear in the Kansas scenes or perform throughout the whole show.

Well, Ray, you may be right about some of the performers not being considered born to play their respective parts, but one thing's for sure, for better or for worse, Ashanti will be remembered for her roles as "Dorothy" from now on. However, you speak only for some when you say that the casting is "not nearly as exciting" as that of Gypsy. I'm not a fan of Gypsy or Lupone et al., but the thought of seeing Tichina Arnold play Evillene has me overjoyed, let alone LaChanze's Glinda. When I read ...